Cigar Is Running for History in the Massachusetts Handicap

BOSTON —  The late Bill Veeck, who ran Suffolk Downs in 1969-70 between excursions into major league baseball, would have emptied his deep bag of tricks to promote a horse like Cigar.

The current Suffolk management isn’t doing that badly on its own.

There are T-shirts that say, “Cigar. The Second Coming.”

There’s been a three-hour dinner cruise around Boston Harbor.

And when Cigar himself arrived at the track Friday afternoon, after a five-hour van ride from Belmont Park, it was with a police escort.

The 6-year-old will be on his own today, except for jockey Jerry Bailey, when he runs in the Massachusetts Handicap.

“We’re not Belmont Park or Hollywood Park,” said Lou Raffetto, executive vice president of Suffolk Downs since 1991. “Our goal is credibility, and it’s been tough, because there’s been a stigma associated with this facility. It’s been tough to get people to ship their horses in here.

“But Cigar gives us that credibility. People are actually shocked to see that we’ve got him running here a second time.”

Suffolk opened in 1935 and was drawing crowds of 35,000 in the 1940s, but for many years the locals have justifiably referred to the track as “Sufferin’ Downs.”

Suffolk has had five barn fires, been the victim of intense parimutuel competition and political in-fighting, and one day the fans, incensed over a disqualification of a horse, threw rocks and bottles, toppled the stewards’ stand and wrecked the tote board.

Not even showman Veeck, who offered chariot races, horse giveaways and the first and only running of the Lady Godiva Purse, could pull Suffolk out of the doldrums, and the track was closed in 1990-91 before the current management team came along.

A year ago, Suffolk ran the MassCap--as it’s called here--for the first time since 1989, and to lure Cigar, a $500,000 bonus, tailored to his racing schedule, was offered. Cigar won that money and is back today with the chance to earn $400,000 and run his near-record winning streak to 15 races.

The opposition at 1 1/8 miles includes five humpty-dumpties, horses who are the antithesis of household names. Their only advantage is that Cigar will be packing much more weight than they are.

With 14 consecutive victories, Cigar has tied a streak that belonged to Man O’ War. With another today, he moves into a league with Buckpasser and Colin, who both won 15 in a row. The modern North American record of 16 in succession belongs to Citation, and Cigar could break that by winning his next three scheduled starts--today’s race, the Hollywood Gold Cup on June 30 and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 10.

For Cigar’s first start since he traveled halfway around the world to win the Dubai World Cup on March 27, John Morrissey, the Suffolk racing secretary, has assigned him 130 pounds. That is two pounds more than Cigar has ever carried. It also makes him the first 130-pound starter in the MassCap since Gun Bow, under 131, finished second in 1961. And, most important, it requires him to spot his five rivals 19 to 22 pounds.

“Two pounds more [than Cigar carried winning the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in February] is not out of line,” said Cigar’s trainer, Bill Mott. “All horses have a breaking point in what they can carry and win, but I think this is something he can do. What I’m concerned about is the spread between the other horses. This much of a weight difference has a tendency to bring horses together.”

Except for the first race in Cigar’s streak, when Mike Smith was aboard, Jerry Bailey has been the jockey for the 1995 horse of the year. The streak started Oct. 28, 1994, in an allowance race at Aqueduct. A month later, for the New York Racing Assn. Mile, the door opened for Bailey when Smith chose to ride Devil His Due, the second-place finisher that day.

Although he seized the moment after each victory, until lately Mott has not appreciated the cumulative importance of the streak. By contrast, Bailey, who has never ridden a horse carrying this much weight, seems to have been in sync with the accomplishment all the way.

“I’m very aware of what’s on the line,” Bailey said. “The one thing I don’t want to be is the reason that Cigar loses.”

Cigar, who paid $2.40 for $2 last year, is 1-9 on the morning line, and to protect itself against minus pools--when a track must pay out more money than it takes in--Suffolk has eliminated place and show betting. The other horses in the field are Personal Merit, carrying 111 pounds; Northern Ensign, Prolanzier and Will To Reign, all 109; and Hogan’s Goat, 108.

John Assimakopoulos trains Prolanzier, a Suffolk-based 6-year-old gelding and minor stakes winner.

“Second money isn’t bad,” he said. “Second and third money are lucrative and prestigious, so when you’ve got a horse at the top of his game, you have to go for it. Besides, in horse racing, anything can happen and you can’t win if you’re not in it.”

Second place is worth $50,000 and third pays $25,000--substantial returns for horses on the New England circuit. Prolanzier, for example, has needed 43 races to earn $180,000. Personal Merit, fourth in the MassCap last year, is the second choice at 5-1 on the morning line.

The last horse to win the MassCap while carrying 130 pounds or more was Whirlaway in 1942. Seabiscuit won in 1937, also at 130. But some other very good horses--Discovery, War Admiral, Challedon and Gun Bow--couldn’t win here when they were assigned 130 pounds or more.

At the other extreme, John Henry, still an unknown quantity on dirt, got into the race with a piddling 108 pounds in 1979. It was also a chance to bet the great gelding at 7-1, but he struggled home 10th in a 13-horse field. Except in Japan, he never ran worse in 51 more races.

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Horse Racing Notes

Suffolk Downs is expecting a crowd of about 20,000. . . . The track should be fast. . . . The last time Suffolk Downs didn’t have place and show betting on a race, Assault finished fourth in the Massachusetts Handicap in 1949.

Trainer Shug McGaughey may run his filly, My Flag, in the Belmont Stakes next Saturday. If she runs, her jockey will be Mike Smith instead of Jerry Bailey, who is expected to ride Prince Of Thieves in the Belmont. Only two fillies--Ruthless in 1867 and Tanya in 1905--have won the race. The last filly to run, Winning Colors, finished last in 1988.

Exotic Wood, with Smith riding, is the 119-pound high weight against seven rivals in today’s $100,000 Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont.